The rumour briefly sent Apple's shares below $500 for the first time in a year.

Apple is due to announce its Q1 results next week, which will reveal how many iPhones and iPads the company sold in the run-up to Christmas.

Though Apple has faced increasing competition from rival smartphone manufacturers, particularly Samsung, analysts expect the company to announce sales of up to 63 million iPhones in the last quarter.

The launch of the iPad mini, last October, is also expected to have driven iPad sales, though Apple is unlikely to reveal sales of specific iPad models next week. However, BNP Paribas expects the iPad mini to account for 60 per cent of iPad sales in the first quarter of 2013.